Wellalage heroics in vain as England Young Lions go one-up

Sri Lankan pair Ranuda Somaratne and skipper Dunith Wellalage bump fists during their 102-run partnership

 Left-arm fast bowler Joshua Boyden ensured victory for England Young Lions with three wickets in one over

England’s Young Lions drew first blood in the five-match Under-19 ODI series played at the SSC grounds when they defeated Sri Lanka Under-19 by 25 runs yesterday to take a 1-0 lead.

A spirited all-round effort by Sri Lanka Under-19 skipper Dunith Wellalage (5/30 & 68) failed to stop England from winning.

Invited to bat first, England ran up a score of 242 with fine contributions from James Rew (40 of 52 balls) and William Luxton (44 off 62 balls). Wellalage was the pick of the bowlers. finishing with 5/30.

Sri Lanka began the run chase with an opening stand of 51 by Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Anjala Bandara, but collapsed to 90/5 before Ranuda Somaratne (57 off 73 balls) and Wellalage (68 off 68 balls) retrieved the innings with a 102-run stand for the sixth wicket to put the innings back on track again. With 27 required off the final four overs and four wickets in hand, the game was evenly poised for a tight finish. However, the dismissal of Somaratne at the start of the 47th over to the left-arm medium-pace of Joshua Boyden saw the innings fold up tamely for 217. Boyden, brought back for his second spell took two further wickets in the over to finish with 3/27. The second U-19 ODI is on Thursday.

Result:

England (U-19) 242 (49.3) (Tom Prest 22, James Rew 40, William Luxton 44, Rehan Ahmed 23, James Sales 28*, Dunith Wellalage 5/30) beat Sri Lanka (U-19) 217 (47.3) (Chamindu Wickramasinghe 34, Anjala Bandara 20, Ranuda Somaratne 57, Dunith Wellalage 68, Joshua Boyden 3/27, Josh Baker 2/46, Tom Prest 2/36, Rehan Ahmed 2/31) by 25 runs.  – (ST)